Our Final Blog Post for 2013

This year I learnt lots of stuff like decimals and fractions. Merry Christmas – Travis
I’ve learnt more about times tables and the environment – Brandon C
This year I learnt how to read a clock – Nat
In 2013 it’s been a great year and I’ve learnt a lot. One of the thing I’ve learnt is setting out a story map for a narrative before doing the real thing – Rosie
This year has been a good year. We have done some incredible things, like going to CERES and Scienceworks – Mia
This year I think I’ve learnt a lot. I’ve made new friends and I've learnt so much that I will remember what a great year it’s been – Jamie
I’ve enjoyed learning about inventions and the environment. I also thought that Middle S did lots of hard work this year – Adam
This year I made a lot of new friends. I also learnt a lot. I learnt about inventing, the environment and a lot about Christmas – Piers
I thought the year was fun. We learnt a lot of new things. We all enjoyed making our inventions and learning about new inquiries – Will
This year has been really fun. I actually learnt a lot of stuff, like how to calculate in maths better – Alex
 This year I think Middle S has been really great class. We have cooperated really well and learnt so much, like when we researched about the outcomes of physical and emotional choices that we make – Madeline This year has been one of my favourite years and that our inquiry was really fun and our narratives was my favourite project. I think I have learnt so much and that we had the BEST TEACHER EVER!-Ruby
This year has been really great, with all our fun and excursions. Our Narratives and Inquiry projects were better and cooler than other years. It was not only a fun year, we also learnt HEAPS! – James
This has been a good year. My favourite thing we did was science - Kitty
This year I had heaps of fun with Ms Scott and I learnt a lot – Angus

Inventions and Innovations at Scienceworks

On Friday, we went to Scienceworks. I learnt a lot about how different machines work and what other people think the future inventions will be – Maddy

I learnt that one way to be invisible is by going behind a mirror without a reflection, at the Carnival of Science – Jack

At Scienceworks, I learnt that cars can be eco-friendly and also not eco-friendly. When I designed a car I made it with bamboo and other natural materials – Piers

We went to a new exhibition called, “Think Ahead” and we could see what machines looked like in the past, in the future and now – Kitty

I figured out how the bed of nails works in the Carnival of Science. It’s because of your body pushing the nails down – Dylan

For the crazy bikes in the carnival of science, if you are going to turn left you have to turn right – Diesel

In the Carnival of science I found out the bed of nails doesn’t hurt because there’s lots of nails going into your back not just one – Nat

I learnt in the Carnival of science that the spinning tent looks like you are going around but it’s not. It’s the tent going around. In Think Ahead I learnt how we can keep the city healthy, by not making buildings that pollute the city – Will

I now know what Pod cars look like. I also liked how there was a robot that got up and danced – Adam

At Think Ahead I learnt about some more stuff that could help the environment, like this thing that is a pole with a container in it that goes around the whole place and comes back. Outside the exhibition it could send real medicine within hospitals – Alex

I learnt that everyone might have a pod car in the future and if you have a crash you are safe – Brandon C.

In Think Ahead, there was these plates with food on them. On the plates there were crickets and cockroaches and salad on them. It told you what food to have in the future and what not to eat – Jamie

In Think Ahead I saw this thing and it showed what past, present and future of buses looked like. I thought it was cool to see future buses – Grace

I learnt what future cars would be like. My invention is a car and I have added to it because of my experience at Science works – Angus

At the Carnival of Science I learnt how the bed of nails works. Since the nails are spread over a wide area it doesn’t hurt – Travis

In the future there’s going to be electric motor bikes – Mia

In the Carnival of Science, there was a spinning tent. When you went in the tent you would feel really dizzy because the tent was spinning around fast whilst you were standing there. I think this was because it was tight and dark in there – Rosie

Measuring Area

We measured the area of the vegie patch and we discovered it was 6m2

We measured the area of the seat - Alex, Riley, James and Grace

We were measuring the chessboard while working as a team. The area is 49m2 - Will, Natalie, Adam and Kitty

We measured the area outside the drink taps. 

We measured the area of the oval, by running fast with the trundle wheel. It is 900m2.

Some questions for you...

- How do you measure the area of a circle? - Will

- What sort of things in every day life do you have to use measurement of area for? - Maddy

- What do you think we should measure? - Kitty & Piers

- Where do we use area? - Dylan, Angus, Nat

- When in your job do you use area to measure things? - James

- What else could you measure? - Jasmine

Maddy's cupcake and lemonade stand.

This afternoon, Maddy and her family hosted a cupcake and lemonade stand to raise money for people in the Phillipines who have been affected by Typhoon Haiyan. The lemonade was refreshing and the cupcakes were splendiferous! I'm not sure how much they raised. Maddy might soon enlighten us via her blog...
http://kidblog.org/Classof20155/madelineb9/help-raise-money/#comments

Our Design Projects

     All the Middles are making inventions for a problem or a need that we wanted to fix – Kitty

       All the Middles have thought about a particular problem they would like to help and they are going to make an invention that will help other people – Maddy

This term all the Middles have seen a need in the world and thought of an invention to help it – Jasmine

       We’ve been watching “Wallace and Gromit’s World of Inventions” and it has been inspiring us to make inventions. Some people have tried to make miniature versions of the inventions – Piers

       We have thought of something that could help a need and so we have invented that would fix it. If it’s really hard to make we will make a model of it – Adam

       We got a booklet this week and on the first page we had to write how our invention would help other people. Under that we had to let our minds go wild with ideas! – Jack

       On Thursday, I got an Inquiry booklet and I started to fill it in. On the first page, it said pick a need and invent something that could help with the need. I’m thinking of inventing a robot bin that will help stop people throwing rubbish everywhere, by sensing rubbish all over the world and picking rubbish up really fast – Alex

This week in Maths: division

This week, our class have been learning about division and we are solving sums using MAB (blocks) and counters – Ruby

       Before this week started I found division quite tricky. Then when I started to use the MAB blocks and counters I found division easy – Grace

This week we have been learning about division and we were modelling it and we were using counting charts, which were good because it made more sense, because you could see the numbers – Mia

       When we were doing division this week I found MAB blocks a bit confusing. When I used grouping with the MAB’s one by one, I found it a bit easier – Jack

       With easy division sums I did doubling to solve the sums. With 15÷2, I counted by 2’s and got to 14 and there was 1 remainder – Jamie

       I find that MAB helps me a lot because I can see a picture of them. I find counters and counting charts confusing – Rosie

       I’m glad that we have learnt more about division because when I saw a division problem on a test I thought, “Oh, no! It’s the dreaded division”. Now that I have learnt more about it I don’t think division is that hard - Maddy

Onomatopoeia in Poetry

On Wednesday, Middle S explored the literary concept of Onomatopoeia.

The dictionary defines Onomatopoeia as:

noun

the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named (e.g., cuckoo, sizzle).

We watched a video with some very catchy music that not only helped us to remember how to pronounce this long word with many syllables, but also gave us lots of ideas to generate our own onomatopoetic words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1b5kCvVBo8

We brainstormed many words as a class…

Then, we created our own poems demonstrating Onomatopoeia. What images and sounds do these words evoke as you read them?

Lights flash in the distance

Sweat trickles down my face

I can feel the ice-cold water dripping on me from above

I hear a shrilled call in the distance

The fire crackles and sparks

The water from the hose gushes

I can hear loud sirens zipping

I try to stand, but wearily fall

-       By Madeline

A ball goes flying in the air, Zoom!

Straight into the back of the net, Bang, Crash!

A loud roar comes from the crowd

“GOAL!” yells the referee.

-       By Will

Fishes go blub, blub

At night the fish goes to sleep

In the water weeds

And you can hear them rustling

By Brandon C

Pitter, patter goes their feet

Ding dong, ding dong, there’s the bell

Whisper, that is all the children say

-       By Jasmine

Whoosh, whish, cars drive past

Rain plops as I run away

Rustle, rustle, I am scared

What’s that sound?

-       By Ruby

Lights flash in the distance

Chugga chugga goes the train

Leaves rustle on the street

Plop goes the rain drops

Ducks go ‘quack’, as I zip up my jacket

Honk! Go the cars as they go past and splash me

-       By Mia